


you were my picket fence

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Let me dream, soon to be complete canonballed, upd8 reunion fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 13:19:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3897826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxy is so distracted talking animatedly to Dave and Rose that she almost doesn’t see him. Dave is going on about dead crows, or something, when she happens to slide her eyes to the right and see a streak of dark magenta hurtling towards the lilypad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you were my picket fence

Roxy is so distracted talking animatedly to Dave and Rose that she almost doesn’t see him. Dave is going on about dead crows, or something, when she happens to slide her eyes to the right and see a streak of dark magenta hurtling towards the lilypad. She freezes up immediately, her shoulders going stiff and her hands drifting to fidget nervously in her lap. She stares at the floor as Dave and Rose both look at her strangely, and she pretends not to watch him out of the corner of her eye. 

“Why are you so nervous?” Rose asks, her voice low.

“Things were shitty. Last time I saw him. I don’t know what’s happened for him or what he knows or… how long ago certain things were for him. I suspect not long ago which means it’s possible he’s totes pissed.” 

Dave looks over at Dirk, almost equally nervously. Rose watches the whole thing with silent interest. Roxy continues staring at the ground and peeking out of the corner of her eye. She expects him to pause, to talk to Jake, try and fix things or talk things out, or whatever it was they needed to do. And he does, but only for a second, mumbling something Jake nods at, and then he keeps walking. He keeps walking towards her. She clenches her firsts at her sides and pretends not to see him. 

“Hey.” his voice is measured and even, and he’s right there. She has no choice but to look up at him. She pastes a scarily large smile on her and turns towards him. 

“Hiya Distri.” she almost winces at the sound of her voice and waves towards Rose and Dave. “Have you met our children?”

When she says it, the reality of the situation washes over her. This is the closest thing she’s ever going to get to the real thing. She pictures a conversation that feels like it happened a lifetime ago, even two lifetimes ago, about two perfect little freaks of nature bright up by two people who got no business bringing up nobody. Mostly she remembers the word inconvenient though. She looks quietly at Rose and Dave, who seem to both be looking between her and Dirk quizzically. Probably waiting for one of them to say something. These two people, people she’s never really met before this moment, are her genetic offspring. Probably the only offspring she’ll ever have. The equal parts genetic mixture of her and the dude she’s hopelessly, stupidly, in love with. 

“Please neither of you call me dad. I have enough weird shit going on without a couple of people my own age wandering after me calling me ‘father’.” 

“I have no problem with that proposition. However, if Dave’s issues with what to call Roxy are any indication, Dave may have more trouble than I.” 

“Shut the fuck up, Rose. I didn’t even call the version of this fucker who raised me ‘dad’, why would I start now?”

“Look, I’m totally down for this whole weird pseudo-family reunion time-warp thing, but I need to borrow Lalonde for a minute. Well. My Lalonde. I mean, Roxy. I need to borrow Roxy.” 

“Feel free. I have plenty of delightful new tidbits of information to cross examine Dave about.”

“You’re the fuckin’ worst, oh my god. I’m leaving.” Dave grimaced and probably rolled his eyes. It was hard to tell. 

“What’s up, Strider?” Roxy says, forcing a smile again as Dave and Rose drift a respectable distance away. 

“He sounds just like you. It’s unnerving.”

“Who, Dave? Yeah I guess we do sound a lil similar. Rose is just like you though, I’m honestly surprised she wasn’t raised by alt-grown up you insteada the other way around.” 

 

“I can see the you in her. Physically, obviously but, I’m sure there’s something from both of us in both of them. After all, I’m reasonably sure that’s how ectobiology works.”

“Weird to think we were just clones of ourselves in another universe, innit? I guess we’ve only ever really got ourselves after all.” 

“You’ve got me. In this universe, anyway. I don’t know if the you and I who raised Dave and Rose ever met. Probably not.”

“I wonder if we were better or worse. I was worse, I think. Based on the little bit of stuff Rose told me. Never stopped drinking.” 

“Speaking of being better or worse, I really did need to talk to you.” 

“Yeah, I figured. Go ahead, I’m bracin’ myself for the inevitable worst.” 

“Jane told me you thought I was mad at you. Or, disappointed, or something along those lines. Jane and I talked about a lot of things, actually. She’s a very helpful conversational partner when she isn’t a sugar crazed lunatic or incredibly angry.”

“Of course you’re mad at me. I fucked up. I fell off the wagon, I went literally fucking crazy, I basically assaulted you, not to mention years of me repeatedly being fuckin’ awful before any of that bullshit even happened. You have every reason to never speak to me ever again. I wouldn’t blame you.” she shrugs, sounding resigned. 

“Roxy. I am so damn proud of you. You’re the only person in our session who ever managed to get anything even closely resembling their shit together. Sure, you slipped. But I’m pretty sure we can write that off under ‘mitigating circumstances’. It was not a normal situation.”

“Doesn’t excuse the stuff I did before.” 

“Maybe it doesn’t. But if I’m not mad at you, does it really matter? We all fucked up pretty royally, in and out of this shithole. You, me, Jane, Jake. All of us. But none of us tried quite as hard as you to get better.”

“I died in your timeline. Shit got bad. I didn’t really see all of it, I’m sure someone’ll fill you in at some point.” 

“Well, I’m glad that’s news I heard from a live version of you, standing in front of me, and not from someone else when I didn’t know this you was here.”

“You’d have been okay.” 

“Don’t kid yourself, Rox. You’re important. You know that.” 

“I always sorta figured I was like, the tier three friend. Tier one, Jake English the super cool boy you were totes hot for. Tier two, Jane Crocker, the smart you could actually talk to about shit. And then me, the drunk girl you internet-baby sat for six years.”

“Nah, you’re the Lalonde Tier friend. It’s got your name spelled on it in pink glitter.” he almost smiles. She does smile. 

“I’m sorry for all the stuff I did.” 

“Apology accepted. I’m sorry too.” 

“For what?”

“Well, it was pretty shitty of me to keep talking to you about Jake knowing, well, knowing what I knew. And I was never particularly skilled at communicating that I cared for you in a non-snark ridden matter.” 

“I don’t mind the snark. Apology also accepted though, bee tee dubs.” 

“Still, it’s good to occasionally be sincere. Especially about things that matter. You matter more than most things, if I’m being honest and genuine and, frankly, mildly disgusting.” 

Dirk smiles, like actually smiles, and she literally can’t remember the last time she saw him do that. It’s that smile that finally shuffles the last of her self control away and she lunges into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. She’d forgotten how tall he was. Somewhere from the direction of Dave and Rose, she thinks she hears an ‘awwwww’. It only takes Dirk a moment to adjust to the embrace, leaning his chin on top of her head and wrapping his arms around her in turn. 

“This is nice. You should hug me more often.” she mumbles into his ridiculous pink shirt. She pulls back finally, looking him up at down. “I feel like something got crossed somewhere and this shitty ass game got our costumin’ preferences swapped. You even have a tiara.”

“It’s… a bit much. I think the head piece might look better on you. I don’t have the face shape for a tiara.” his face is deadly serious, and Roxy laughs. “Take off your hood, which by the way, is about ten times cooler than any part of this absurd ensemble.” 

“I dunno man, the shorts kinda suit you, Distri.” 

“Don’t start with me, Lalonde.” 

She sticks her tongue out but pulls her hood down, running her hands through her mussed hair a few times. Dirk looks at her thoughtfully for a second and then pulls the pink head piece from his stupid hair and settles it onto her head. 

“How do I look?” she grins. 

“Better than I did in that thing, that’s for sure. Besides, it’s your color, after all.”

“Hey Dirk?”

“Yeah?”

“I missed you.” 

“Roxy it’s been a matter of hours. Possibly days.” she can see him raise one eyebrow above his shades. 

“Whatever, loser.” she makes a face and shoves him, and he laughs. 

“I might have missed you too. For the record.”

“Good. I’m very miss-able.” 

“That’s definitely a word that also does not mean what you just used it to mean.” 

“Should we go rejoin the fucked up Strilonde family reunion?”

“Probably. There’s… other stuff I want to talk about. But I think it can wait until after.” 

“What if there isn’t an after?”

“There will be.” 

“I wonder what it’ll be like.” 

“Well, I imagine you, myself, and our two inevitably maladjusted test tube clone children will move to a stately manor in New England and live out the rest of our days in intensely ironic bliss.” 

“I know you’re kidding, but I wouldn’t mind that all that much.” 

“I know. Me either, really. Shall we?” he waved a hand toward Dave and rose, who were doing a very bad job and pretending they hadn’t just been listening to everything the pair said. 

“We shall.” 

“I see you two seem to have made up. I feel a bit like I just lived a very strange version of the Parent Trap.” Rose smiles and raises an eyebrow. Dave eyes Dirk suspiciously. 

“Whatever you do, don’t fucking talk to me about puppets.”

“That’s it Lalonde. We have to disown him. I can’t associate myself with riff raff who doesn’t understand the deep and abiding love in my heart for beings of plush and felt.” 

“Oh my god, please tell me this isn’t really happening.” Dave groaned loudly. 

Roxy and Dirk settled down next to the pair of kids, cross legged on the ground, and he smiled simply at her, just for a second. Maybe this was as close as she’d ever get to a normal, happy family. The closest she’d ever get to him. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe things changed at some point, when she wasn’t looking. But as she looked from Dirk, to Dave and Rose, to the other people gathered on the platform, she smiled. Maybe even if this was as close as she got, that was okay. Maybe this was enough. She leaned her head onto Dirk’s shoulder. He let her. 

Yeah. Maybe this was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't wait for the whole Strilonde family to reunite. I fought hard with myself to keep the DirkRoxy here mostly platonic, but if you wanted to read it leaning red, you absolutely could. Feedback is love, and I hope you all enjoyed this!


End file.
